Monday, January 27, 2014

There's been a ton of discussion this season as to the reasons for Marquette's inability to pull out some tough games. This weekend featured a rarity, a loss in which Todd Mayo really stepped up and played well throughout. No player on Marquette's team has been more of an indicator of Marquette success than Mayo. When Marquette wins, Todd Mayo is often one of the best players on the court. When Marquette loses, it seems like Mayo simply can't buy a basket.

Yet this past Saturday, Mayo stepped up and Marquette still lost. So what made the Villanova game different from the other losses? One thing that stood out to me was the venue. 7 of Marquette's 9 losses have come away from the Bradley Center. And looking at the numbers, it is shocking to see the disparity in Todd Mayo's play at home and on the road. I can't really explain it, so I'll let the numbers speak for themselves:

One thing seems certain. If Marquette wants to have a chance to end up in the NCAA Tournament, they need Mayo to bring some of that consistently good home play to games away from the BC. Hopefully that will happen before the end of conference play, because by the time this team gets to New York for the Big East Tournament, it may be too late.